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Film and television have been influencing audiences’ fashions for decades. Films from Hitchcock classics to Clueless have set fashion trends, and TV shows like Sex and the City, Pretty Little Liarsand Gossip Girl continue to have have an impact on fashion designs even after the shows have vanished from prime time. One has only to watch the Golden Globes, Emmy, and the Screen Actor Guild awards to understand the impact of Hollywood on fashion.

Today very girl grows up watching Clueless, the romantic comedy that has become a classic that watched mothers and best friends. Clueless did not just influence the way many youths speak, but also had a profound effect on how they dress. Clueless made trends like knee socks, crop tops, berets, schoolgirl skirts, and headbands into fashion icons. These trends have been called the “Clueless effect”. The Clueless effect is still present twenty years after the movie was released — in stores from New Look and Topshop to the Versace fall 2012 collection. The movie brought well-known names like Calvin Klein and Azzedine Alaia into the public eye. Clueless did this by targeting an audience that is the most easily influenced by the media. According to Charlie Lynne, in an interview with Hope St, style draws individuals to a movie but the movie must have substances in order for the style to endure. The costume director of the film, Mona May, says that all she wanted was for the fashion to endure. In an interview with Oyster, she said that she wanted to inspire viewers and show them something they have never seen before.

Image via imdb.com

The iconic Hitchcock films influenced the world of cinema forever — and also the world of fashion. Alexander McQueen created a line inspired by Hitchcock films for his autumn/winter 2005 collection. It consisted of the iconic angora sweaters and sharp skirt suits with well-done hair. Just two years ago, Miu Miu used car coats, over-the-knee pencil skirts, ladylike bags, and gloves that had evoked Hitchcock’s films. With iconic clothing from Kim Novak’s grey suit in Vertigo and the classic pencil skirts to the yellow Marni bag, classic clean lines and the colors from these clothes are still seen widely worn today. Pinterest boards can be easily found presenting how to where “Hitchcock” fashion.

Image via theguardian.com

The small screen had very few icons until 1998 when Sex and the Citypremiered on HBO. At first the show was critically derided due to its forwardness. With its constant talk of sex and the women characters running around New York sleeping with whomever they wanted, the show’s initial viewership was not impressive. It took a few seasons for the show’s popularity to pick up, partly due to interest in the fashions. Sex and the City created fashion icons and sparked trends ranging from high-end designer bags to fabric flowers and Manolos. The female viewers’ attitudes towards spending money on material accessories instantly changed. They became more willing to go out and buy a nice piece of clothing for their wardrobe. The show promoted the ideal of indulging oneself. Sex and the City had a profound influence on retail: many stores saw changes in sales after episodes like “The Pearl Thong”. The show created aspiring glamoristas not just while on the air but still today as young women watch the reruns around the world.

Image via content.time.com

In an interview with the New York Times, Mandi Line, costume director for Pretty Little Liars, discussed how she got her job. “If you let me make fashion the fifth character on this show,” she said, “people will watch it just for the clothes.” With the show focused on four girls in high school trying to understand the unbelievable messages from their dead friend, their fashion seems beyond their time. Most girls wear jeans, t-shirts, and converses to high school while these girls are wearing stylish outfits with some high-end brands as statement pieces. Young girls have started to emulate these characters through blogs examining each character’s outfits so that others purchase the same or similar outfits. As television is becoming a more respected medium, costume designers are finding greater opportunities working on television shows, which reach a wider audience than the cinema currently does. Costume designers are able to design clothing lines based off of television shows due to the audience wanting to look like their favorite characters.

Image via polyvore.com

Before Pretty Little Liars aired in 2010, Gossip Girl started the trend of girls trying to look like their favorite character. Gossip Girl created characters that young girls wanted to be on the small screen. The premise of private high school kids living a glamorous life in New York City getting whatever they want when they wanted mimicked the instant-gratification culture the show was catering to. From the expensive parties with under-aged drinking to trips all around the world, one huge element was the characters outfits. Being one of the first to mix high-end brands with cheaper add-ons, it allowed girls to be able to find similar products at stores near them. Stores like Bloomingdales reported more girls coming into their shops looking for Gossip Girl inspired clothing after being featured on the show. Gossip Girl also helped make a name for smaller brands like Zara and Urban Outfitters by showing the characters in their products, as they provided an affordable piece of clothing that girls could buy to add to their wardrobe. These companies grew immensely in popularity, becoming staple stores for pre-teen girls to shop.

Image via fourms.thefashionpost.com

It did not take the CW long to recognize the trends of girls emulating a character on their shows. So they capitalized on it by adding point-and-click shopping to their website so viewers could go online and look up their favorite character’s wardrobe and purchase pieces at price ranges. This new shopping option made clothing brands pay to be featured on the show. Due to Gossip Girl’s abilities to generate trends, they became one of the first shows to generate revenue through this process. Designer collections like Marc by Marc Jacobs started to feature a Gossip Girl influence in order to be featured on the show changing New York runways because of the newly-targeted audiences. Television and movies will continue to play an integral role in the fashion industry because of the audience they cater to and the viewers wanting to copy the actors on the screen. This makes the media market is instrumental in establishing fashion frenzy for the viewers as well as creating passion for fashion for designer clothes. As viewers we will constantly be influenced by the fashion we see in films and television.

Like the idea of getting dressed by the independent, emerging designers? Well, you are in luck once more, because there is a website for that! notjustalabel.com

NJAL brings collections from over 18,000 emerging designers around the world, available to buy before they are seen anywhere else. This is really artsy approach and in the process you may feel empowered too, because nothing is going to be cleverly marketed to you by the Big Brands.

Choose for yourself and the product will be dispatched to you directly form the artist’s studio. You may receive an item within 48 hours or customize it and get it within three weeks. Designers guarantee the highest quality of materials, free worldwide delivery and outstanding personal customer service, thanks to NJAL’s curation.

The result is a win-win situation, you get an original item of clothing and the emerging designers will be able to master their craft. The NJAL shop puts the power — and the profits — back into the hands of young designers.

This unique concept cuts out the middle-men, creating a direct link between shopper and designer. 70% of your spending directly funds the designers’ progress and businesses worldwide.

Farfetch brings the world’s best independent fashion boutiques to an International audience. Launched in 2008 in LA, the business has grown into a global company, with offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, Porto and São Paulo, the last one is impressive, because of the hight importation taxes in Brazil.

How it works – Farfetch has a global community of over 300 visionary fashion boutiques. Visionary, meaning, conceptual and generally cool. If you are not an International jet-setter, but fashion-forward individual with a soft spot for something new and unreachable, you are in luck. These are carefully selected independent boutiques with forward-thinking attitude and unique brands that were selected just for you.

The network of boutiques are located everywhere from Paris, New York and Milan to Bucharest, Riyadh and Seattle, but united in one e-commerce website. When you order through Farfetch, your order is delivered directly from the boutique to your door.

If you like this, please read more blogs about cool online shops, next!

Fashion is a $1 trillion global industry. Thanks to globalization and digital innovations, it is now moving online and has become the driving force for many luxury brands.

Migration to cyberspace has started, the territory is vast and is up for grabs. Let’s have a look at some innovative ways to spend on fashion and how retailers are finding their niche in cyberspace.

New trend alert! Get luxury items before they arrive to the stores. Lets have look at two websites that offer this service: ModaOperandi.com and PreCouture.com

These luxury e-commerce sites offer hundred of designers straight from the fashions shows and available for pre-order. Basically, before the collection hits the stores you can be a happy owner of a haute couture item. It is, of course, for serious fashionistas, confident women, who are not afraid to drop several thousand of dollars on an item they haven’t even tried on.

Well this is the future of fashion and the proof to that are millions of dollars raised to service these sites. They already show an enormous growth and the expansion is just an inevitable fact.

PreCouture.com claims that they have an expert eye on the fashion and emerging trends, as they focus on the cult designers, such as Alexander Wang, Matthew Williamson and Carven. Buying things you see on the catwalk before anybody else can be exiting and expensive, but if you want to be noticed, staying ahead of the trends is a must.

Both sites operate in the principle of a trunk show, the sales are for limited time, usually for ten days. The focus is on impeccable customer service and that’s no-brainer, as an average order ranges between $5,000 and $7,000.

As the business continues to expand, it spills over to mobile and all of the above is now available on your very-smart phones, just download the apps!

If you like this, please read more blogs about cool online shops, next!

Born and raised in Paris – and in the true French tradition – I started smoking at the age of 14. Four years later, when I moved to England for my studies, I had to kick the habit. This wasn’t out of sheer willpower, mind you, but because of my scarce student budget: a pack of fags cost approximately £8 (around 12 euros) and the choice between food and tobacco seemed fairly obvious at the time. Now that I have relocated to the French capital, I am forced to admit that old habits do indeed die hard.

So what is it about Paris that encourages its inhabitants to light up? And how is the tendency intrinsically linked to fashion?

Before the First World War, smoking was largely regarded as a masculine behaviour and regarded as taboo for women. Just like wearing trousers, smoking would be seen as a transvestite performance during the course of the 19th century. The only social crowd that would dare to engage in this type of gender-crossing activity, so as to titillate, were the sexually promiscuous: desirable courtisanes. Therefore, to a great degree, puffing has always been sexy – and linked to fashion as a culture.

By the 1920s, the tobacco industry saw an opportunity in the ever-increasing emancipation of women to market cigarettes as a commodity. This led to one of the most controversial campaigns in the history of advertising: “Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet”, which effectively marked the foundation of the relationship between cigarettes and feminine beauty.

Image courtesy: tobacco.stanford.edu

The use of cigarettes as appetite suppressants is also inherently related to the pressure French girls endure to stay slim starting at a very young age. Think the Lucky Strike ad was shocking? A couple of years ago, the French diet guru Pierre Dukan (who sold 4 million copies of his method, by the way) suggested that teenagers who managed to maintain their BMI between 18 and 25 during high school should be rewarded with extra points on their baccalauréat diploma. He didn’t advertise cigarettes as such, of course, but it just goes to show that the diktat of slenderness is still extremely relevant, nearly a century after the Lucky Strike campaign. And why do we want to stay slim? Well, that links us right back to the theme of fashion.

“Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”, said famously Kate Moss, who lit up a cigarette as she strolled down the catwalk during Paris Fashion Week 2011. This also shows that there is more to smoking than numbers on the scales: cigarettes look cool. The glamour and poise of smoke-exhaling lips on camera are undeniable, and the French stylist and ex-model Valentine Fillol Cordier conveyed this impression perfectly:

“Fashion loves to go back, to reference itself. And smoking helps: it says history, and style, and it works well for what it says in two dimensions. It’s a bit dreamy, a bit intellectual, it gets smoky and it fills the screen. But it’s in films, in stills, in photos, in something that happened before. It’s in two dimensions. That’s what we love. In all dimensions, in real life, well… you know, it actually stinks. It smells. And it kills. I was a smoker, hell yes. When I was a model – and the people who have a go at models who smoke, well, it kept our weight down. But it has always been far more cool on the screen than in real life. It just works better there.”

Image courtesy: parlourmagazine.com

Back to 2015. Almost half of the French population aged between 18 and 34 smoke – and 37% of 11 to 15 year olds say they can’t cope without a cigarette. Our parents smoked. Our grandparents smoked. Our idols smoked (and some of them still do). A few weeks ago, French MPs voted for the neutralization of cigarette packaging starting next year and I wonder how effective this strategy will prove to be, compared to a drastic price rise for example. Besides, cigarettes are associated with so many facets of our culture, the war would have to take effect on a variety of fronts – from the thinness concern to the on-screen visual appeal.

Why haven’t we done more, yet? Is it because we don’t reaaaally want to quit? E-cigarette shops in France are biting the dust and progressively closing down, one by one. They just don’t look as good as the real deal. But there’s also some kind of national pride in the image of the French smoker; the picture of the slender-looking and charismatic smoking Parisian isn’t the worst stereotype we could have been stuck with, to be honest.

La Parisienne has been the object of every fashionistas’ affection for a couple of centuries now. She has reached a mystical status as a fashion figure and has remained in this strong position, even within the context of an increasingly globalised world. But Paris is currently at war with a few other cities, trying to defend its eminent title of fashion capital of the world: New York, London, and Milan have never been this eager to get to the throne (although some would argue that The City Of Light has already been overthrown). As an ex-inhabitant of London and French citizen, I have decided to cautiously delve into the hitherto greatly unchartered waters of London vs. Paris style to offer an insider perspective.

Inès de la Fressange(image courtesy: rdujour.com)

If you ask Google: “comment s’habiller comme une Parisienne?”, you’ll immediately get propelled in a Pinterest world of breton stripes (I know, SHOCKING) and little black dresses. The archetype, usually incarnated by Inès de la Fressange or Jeanne Damas more recently, is usually defined by the perfect combination of natural and sophisticated. She’s neatly neglected: it looks like she’s just woken up and threw some clothes on, but the final result is always meticulously polished.
Some of the essential garments include: a perfecto jacket, ballerinas, jeans, a blazer, a blouse, white sneakers and a mid-length skirt. All quite classic. De la Fressange observes that the secret to the recipe lies in the combinations: the high-end with the inexpensive, the new and the old, the Monoprix t-shirt, the precious bracelet, the Rondini sandals that can only be found in Saint-Tropez. These may seem like simple rules to follow, but there is a whole lot more to the Parisienne. The blogger Garance Doré asked her followers about their opinion upon the matter and the comments were quick: she’s nonchalant but passionate, smokes like chimney but has a flawless complexion, eats irrational amounts of croissants but looks fit as a fiddle. This otherworldly creature is the embodiment of almost every woman’s aspirations: she has achieved balance in every single aspect of her life.

The interesting thing is, la Parisienne is one singular and original character. She’s an idea. It is argued that she can be found in many locations other than Paris and notwithstanding her wide-reaching and international echelon, she remains a sole entity. The London girl, on the other hand, is a fashion schizophrenic.

First of all, the latter usually identifies with one of the cardinal directions: she’s North, South, East or West. You can tell where she lives or which area of the city her heart belongs to by looking at her outfit.

Camden Girls(image courtesy: cronkitenewsonline.com)

In relation to the North, Camden Town immediately comes to mind. This is where the influence of punk and other anti-conformist styles never died. It’s the perfect place to go look for your Doc Martens, grab some studs for your leather jacket, get a dodgy tattoo, or find a cool gig. You’re allowed to wear pretty much anything, around here – most people do. The neighbourhood is also home to Cyberdog, which may just be the most surreal shop you’ll ever visit (unless you regularly hunt for fluorescent trance dance clothing – in which case it must look fairly standard).
The South is the more student-ey area, where the booze is cheap and your tobacco is rolled. The predominant fashion in this part of the city is therefore urban streetwear (who cares what you wear to uni?): a relaxed sweatshirt, a pair of Nike sneakers or army boots, and you might even dare to wear a snapback – or a beanie, if you are less adventurous.
In the West End, the dominating and all-powerful taste leans towards the elegant and the trendy. The W-postcode girl is the one that approximates la Parisienne the most, as a matter of fact. Skinny jeans, clutch bags and topknot buns would be regular visions in this part of the town. This is also where Oxford Street and Selfridges are located, so you’ll probably get to notice all of the Asian tourists leaving their all-time favourite luxury stores with huge shopping bags and satisfied smiles on their faces (but Heaven forbid you find yourself there around 6PM when all of the tourists and commuters collide and mayhem ensues).

East London(image courtesy: pinterest)

The geography of the East is a complex one, because it is home to a few distinctive styles – all of which could be classified under the all-encompassing yet grossly oversimplified label of “hipster”. Along with the North, this is where the most eccentric and colourful fashions are born, raised, and nurtured. The best vintage shops can be found in Brick Lane, which might give you an idea of how acceptable and welcome double-denim is (very, that is).

But overall, the Londoner is a lot more daring. This may be attributed to the amount of prestigious fashion schools in England, which leads all fashion aficionados to forever strive for originality and creativity. Perhaps this is why some of Jean-Paul Gaultier’s work, for instance, was inspired by the energy of the United Kingdom: “Britain represents iconoclastic creativity, individuality – things that we don’t know so much in France.”

My take on the Parisienne is that she probably won’t disappear. She’s a myth, and a cultivated one, which means that her position has been secured. The Parisian girls, however, aren’t trying to fit the mould as much as they used to anymore. So, yes, Paris might remain the capital for haute-couture fashion, but it definitely comes as no surprise that it has been allegedly dethroned in the prêt-à-porter industry. In a world where the local becomes global and the global becomes local, the endeavour for uniqueness and self-affirmation will hopefully prevail – but classics will always be classics.

I know exactly what you might be thinking right about now: “what does slut-shaming have to do with fashion?” – and you’re raising a fairly good point here. Slut-shaming as a subject doesn’t usually focus on clothes per se (it more frequently underlines the lack thereof, to be honest). I mean yes, I could talk about exceptionally plunging neckline dresses or your standard Coachella hot pants. However, I’ve decided to write about leggings – garments that cover the entirety of the leg but yet appear to be controversial in some schools.

Feminism 101 blogs define slut-shaming as “the idea of shaming and/or attacking a woman or a girl for being sexual, having one or more sexual partners, acknowledging sexual feelings, and/or acting on sexual feelings.” This therefore means that women who choose to wear seductive clothing can be (and often are, let’s face it) subject to slut-shaming: they are allegedly dressed like sluts and ought to be called so.
The problem is, women aren’t just the victims of slut-shaming: they are often the perpetrators as well. As our Lord and saviour Tina Fey says in the Bible (also universally known under the title Mean Girls):

Image courtesy: globalgrind.com

So why do we keep on publicly or privately insulting each other? Is it the ingrained and implicit competition between women that causes them to slut-shame? The reasons are still somewhat inexplicable because of the depth of their roots, but it has been prevalently witnessed amongst teen and preteen girls. This is the age at which girls are most impressionable, which is also why cyber slut-shaming, for instance, is still trivialised in court as “puerile attempts by adolescents to outdo each other” according the University of San Francisco Law Review.

Last year, Dockterman wrote about dress codes on Time.com and how the latter encourage slut-shaming. She accounted for a protest in Haven Middle School, Illinois, and the arguments that were raised by 12 and 13 year-old girls regarding one of their favourite items of clothing: “not being able to wear leggings because it’s ‘too distracting for boys’ is giving us the impression we should be guilty for what guys do.” Instead of telling boys not to sexualise or make fun of a girl’s outfit, we tell girls that they are distracting the opposite sex and imply that boys can’t control themselves. To a great degree, this attitude promotes the transfer of the blaming towards the female victim, as opposed to the male executioner. The story naturally unfolds, and we come to assimilate these values as we grow up.
Yep. Here’s a taste of rape culture for you.

The contentious debate about wearing leggings as trousers has been going on for a few years now. “Is it ever OK?” asks Cosmo. The article gives tips on how to style an outfit with leggings, but the very fact that the working title allows for a negative response is slightly depressing.
The award for the most disastrous leggings-related article, however, goes hands down to The Huffington Post: “Do Straight Guys Think The Leggings As Pants Look Is Hot? We Asked Them!” (and yes, the content is just as cringe-worthy as the heading). Ever wondered if Prince Charming thought you looked like a streetwalker? This article will tell you!
(Thank heavens some random “straight dude” was there to endorse your outfit.)

As an ex-tomboy and someone who used to slut-shame myself to fit in with the male crowd at university, I genuinely hope that this unfortunately common mentality shifts in the near future. The relentless optimist in me looks forward to the day all women will look at other women and think: “You go girl, you dress like this if it makes you feel good [insert sassy hand movements here]. I’m so proud of you for having the confidence to wear this. And guess what? You look freaking flawless.” Females empowering other females is the first and foremost approach to reframing our existing mental models. Wanna wear leggings as trousers? I have two words for you: GO and ON. Nobody should ever have to feel ashamed about how they choose to dress.

Pippa Middleton, you slut.(Image courtesy: blog.newscom.com)

This article isn’t a hate message to men, parenthetically. There are changes to make in both camps, by all means, but this initial understanding ought to come from within. We’re also slowly but surely beginning to see the rise of celebrities telling us not to be afraid: Jennifer Lawrence refusing to lose weight for an acting role, John Legend telling all men they should be feminists, Patricia Arquette’s cry for wage equality during her Oscar acceptance speech… 2015 should be the year we start raising awareness regarding the stigmatisation and shaming of women for all of the rampant sexual double standards.
Easier said than done, of course, but if teenage girls in Illinois have come to realise that it’s time to fight for their right to wear leggings in school, then shouldn’t we all?

It’s truly impossible to get tired of Paris. Even so, when my dear friend invited me to visit her in Jordan, I jumped at the chance to get out of the cluttered city setting and soak up the Middle Eastern sunshine … Continue reading →

In January 1971 the topic of war once again caused uproar throughout Paris and the world. Yves Saint Laurent had shown his new haute couture collection, known as “Liberation” or “Forties”. It was inspired from the clothing that Parisians wore during the Nazi occupation of World War II. Over 40 years later, the collection is now on display at the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent.

Photo: Elise Johnsen

“The Scandal Collection” gives you more than just a look at the pieces that made the collection. It brings an atmosphere of being in Paris during the early months of 1971. With anything related to the collection being on display, you fully understand how much of a scandal Saint-Laurent created in the city. The walls are decked out with original sketches, patches of fabric that were used for the pieces and magazine clippings.

Photo: Elise Johnsen

At the exhibition you are even invited to the front row of the original haute couture show. Being placed before a big screen, you witness how the old fashion houses showed their collections. The models are walking separately down the tiny space between the two front rows, showing off the new scandal. No bloggers or crying babies are spotted in the seats.

You’re right, there is no such thing a Dutch Clog Fairy except how would you explain this summer shoe trend without her? I’m not talking about those rubber florescent colored Crocs that yuppies wear. Burn those. Or the Birkenstocks that are made from recycled books that poetry-majors sell to pay back Salle Mae. You’re right again, it isn’t nice to stereotype or judge, fashion is all about style. But bear with me for a second, imagine strutted the streets of LA, Rio di Janero, or even St. Tropez with a wide-legged harem pants, a floppy hat, a simple white tank and artisan made jewelry. You’d get double takes, but its not the outfit or your contouring skills but how you work those clogs. These wooden beauties come in leather, suede, even white lace and they’ve made a comeback since the 70s and looking more down-to-earth than ever before.

Add socks to give dimension to your outfit

Zara this season brings forth the simple black leather clog with the classic studs around the edges with a perfect 5inch heel. Easy to dress with a white summer dress or even overalls for that bohemian Selena Gomez look. Free People even sells a slip-on pair lined with sheep wool. Forget those Frey Melissa Button riding boots, who all the basic east coast girls wear with leggings, slip on these puppies while wearing your ex-boyfriend’s sweats and your favorite t-shirt (aka your pajamas); just add a statement necklace and your winter to spring transition outfit is complete. Need something with a strap for chasing the ice cream man or a boyband member? Swedish Hasbeen is you’re new best friend! Made from 100% vegetable leather (I don’t even know what that is either) but all made by hand these little European monsters are great for that everyday outfit. They have the power to dress down a black jumpsuit while still looking chic to even bringing a new vibe to your mom’s 1970’s light-wash flare jeans. So put your other hippy shoes under your pillow and perhaps the Dutch Clog Fairy will exchange them with the clogs that are made for your lifestyle and for any occasion.